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An Old Story Teller: SS. John and Paul on the Coelian Hill (Part 2)

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Model of 4th Century Rome (partial view). The Church of Saints John and Paul stands today where the Roman aquaduct follows the lower wall of Temple of Claudius. (Museo de Civilta Romana)

The Coelian Hill in the 5th Century

Churches tell stories and the Church of Saints John and Paul, like other old Roman churches, has many stories to tell.

Saints John and Paul is an early 5th century “titular” church, nestled on the western spur of the Coelian Hill, one of Rome’s seven fabled hills. Across from it is the Palatine Hill, where the palaces of Roman emperors once stood; nearby are the Roman Forum and the Colosseum,  remains of a powerful empire.

The church was built a few years before the Visigoths, led by Alaric, invaded Rome on August 24, 410 A.D. and plundered for three days the city that was thought unconquerable. In far-off Bethlehem, St. Jerome grieved over Rome’s fall and the plight of his Roman friends: “…the bright light of all the world was put out…the Roman Empire was decapitated…the whole world perished in one city.” Rome recovered from the raid, but its rapid decline had begun.

Before Alaric’s invasion, the Coelian Hill was an quiet residential enclave close to the heart of the imperial city, where wealthy senatorial families lived in walled mansions, while they managed enormous investments in lands and farms in Africa, Sicily and Gaul. In addition to the mansions of the rich, apartment houses (insulae) for the poor and middle classes stretched out along the roads crossing the hill. Imperial troops were quartered on the Coelian — one garrison stationed near the Church of Saints John and Paul  —  to be near the seat of government.

Emperor Marcus Aurelius

Important figures of old Rome had homes on the Coelian. The Emperor Marcus Aurelius (160-180) was raised there. The Emperor Constantine (312-337) and his mother, Helena, owned extensive properties on its eastern edge. After Constantine gave the Christian church freedom in 312, he gave large land grants to the Christians on the Coelian — a minority on the hill at the time. He built the impressive Basilica of the Savior (now known as Saint John Lateran) with its connecting baptistery, and donated his Lateran Palace to Pope Melchiades (311-314) for a residence. Constantine’s benefactions turned the Coelian Hill into the first major site of Christian buildings within Rome’s walls and the center of church administration until the sixteenth century, when the popes moved their residence to the Vatican.

Prominent Christian families lived on the Coelian Hill. The property next to Saints John and Paul belonged to the patrician family of St. Gregory the Great (590–604), the most notable of the early popes.  His grandfather, Pope St. Felix (483-492) and another relative, Pope St. Agapitus (535-536) preceded him as bishops of Rome. Gordian, the father of Agapitus, was a priest of the Church of Saints John and Paul.

St. Melania the Younger, from one of Rome’s richest families, lived near Saints John and Paul. Shortly before Alaric’s invasion, she sold her home and lands on the Coelian, and gave the money to the poor. Then she left for Africa with her husband to join Augustine and his community at Hippo. Eventually they settled in Bethlehem with the religious communities begun by St. Jerome and St. Paula, a wealthy Roman Christian widow.

From the late 4th century on, Christians from the Coelian Hill, were leaders of the Roman church with ties to a lively spiritual and intellectual network that reached throughout the Roman world. Among their spiritual guides were St. Jerome (a frequent guest in the homes on the hill), St. Augustine, the bishop of Hippo in North Africa, and spiritual teachers from the Egyptian desert, who brought the wisdom and asceticism of the desert to the Coelian.  The Coelian Christians gave important support to the Church of Saints John and Paul.

- Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P.

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An Old Story-teller: The Basilica of Saints John and Paul, (Part 1)

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The ancient Church of Saints John and Paul, one of Rome’s earliest Christian churches, has a treasury of stories to tell. It was built as the 5th century dawned, when Rome’s glory days were about to end. Then, barbarian warriors invaded the city, and Rome steadily declined. Today, the church sits placidly intact among the ruins of old imperial palaces and temples. For almost sixteen hundred years, it has been a witness to Rome’s changing fortunes and a faith that endures.

This holy place recalls an age when Christians were persecuted by the state. Before the present church was built, a community of Christians met here in a house – as other believers throughout the city did. Tradition says two soldier martyrs – John and Paul – are buried here.

After the persecutions ended and Christianity received imperial support, prominent Christians of the Coelian Hill led by the Roman Senator Pammachius, built a beautiful church here in the “show area” of the city, as a symbol of their faith’s new standing. They were sure their belief could breathe new life into Rome’s tottering institutions.

Since the 18th century, the Passionists have been in charge of the church and the buildings attached to it. The world-wide religious community has its headquarters here.

Like an old story-teller, the church holds centuries of memories. It reminds us of generations of believers who kept their faith in good times and in bad, of martyrs old and new who shed their blood for what they believed. Why not listen to its story?

Let’s study the facade.

  • Extreme right, bell tower (12th-13th century) built over the travertine foundations of the Temple of Claudius and the Claudianum (1st century). The large sunken door to the left of the bell tower on the piazza leads to an ancient street before the Claudianum.
  • To the left of the bell tower are 11th-12th century buildings of the Monastery of Saints John and Paul, begun by Cardinal Theobald. Its original entrance, now enclosed, is seen to the right of the narthex (or porch at the entrance to the basilica) on the piazza. The double-arched windows above the door to the Claudianum marks the room where St.Paul of the Cross died. (October 18,1775)
  • The narthex was constructed by Cardinal di Sutri in the middle of the 12th century. Above it is the 13th century gallery, built by Cardinal Savelli, who became Pope Honorius III.
  • The five large arches and columns on the upper façade of the basilica are from the original 5th century basilica.The large round dome to the right of façade was constructed in the 19th century as part of the shrine to St.Paul of the Cross.
  • On the left hand side of the basilica is the ancient street, Clivus Scauri, connecting the Coelian Hill to the Palatine Hill. Spanned by seven brick arches that buttress the 5th century church, the road runs past the 3rd century apartment houses, parts of which can be seen in the church’s foundations.
- Fr. Victor Hoagland, C.P.

 

 

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